The Man of No Tears
by Fear's Blade
Summary: In the distant future, Infinite Stratos, a combat capable mech suit with the powers to level a complex, is developed. The only drawback: the suits can only be piloted by women. Not anymore... In Japan, at the world's only IS academy, a boy emerges claiming that he has the abilities to pilot an IS. How does the world react? More specifically, how do the schools students react?
1. A Lone Phoenix

The Man of No Tears

_ Chapter 1: A Lone Phoenix_

All I saw was white, and all I heard were voices.

" Date mark: 1:00 p.m., February 1st, 2025, Saturday 1. Subject 11-417-JW activated. Update the log."

" Right away, sir."

The blinding light died down until I could make out two figures looming over me. One was in scrubs, while the other was dressed in an expensive-looking suit. The man in the suit had slick hair and wore sleek black spectacles. He wore a blank expression and stood tall with authority, while the person in scrubs seemed rather worried.

" Sir, the subject is showing no response," said the man in scrubs. The man in the suit simply shook his head.

" No, he is. Look, his pupils are dilating, adjusting to the light. Now tell me, what about his hearing?"

" The receiving circuits indicate that the sound isn't being processed correctly. Perhaps there might be something wrong with the synthetic sound packa-"

"-Pay attention to the monitors Dr. Green. The subject can hear us perfectly fine," the man in the suit replied, pointing at the monitors. After glancing at the monitors, Dr. Green looked down at me.

"Ah, so you're awake. Do you understand what I am saying?" Dr. Green asked. As his name suggests, he did in fact, have green eyes. Almost instantly, my mind started processing observations and deducing simple but crucial facts.

This man is an american male, 49 years of age. The ring on his left ring finger indicates that he is is married. He currently has a masters degree in Organism Engineering assuming that he was in charge of engineering me.

The amount and type of security in the facility I am in suggests that it is completely illegal. I am most likely part of a project lead by the man in the suit. By the looks of him, he is a high class capitalist. The project is most likely an organization made for the sole purpose of creating expert IS pilots. All of the information makes sense, but what doesn't make sense is the lack of security in the room.

'Why would these men leave a new experiment so unguarded? They should know that I am perfectly capable of escaping this facility. Perhaps they believe that I won't try. False safety will play to my advantage, but I need to assess the situation'.

I look around the room and at the two men discussing unimportant information. 'The door is locked, but won't be hard to get through. The weight I feel isn't completely me, it includes an IS activation source, or ISAS for short, on my wrist. Partially deploying the IS will allow me to break through the door and find an escape route'. As I think through my plan, the two men prepare to leave as a few armed guards walk through the door with restraining equipment. 'If I'm going to escape, now is as good as ever'.

As the two men leave the room one of the guards pulls off the small leather straps on my arms and legs, then motions for the guard with the restraint gear to, well… restrain me.

And now… I… escape.


	2. Unusual Student

Chapter 2: Unusual Student

_Tap, tap, tap. _Cecilia Alcott, the representative candidate of England, repeatedly tapped her fingernail on the desk. The sun shone brightly on the IS Academy this particular day, but it was still as boring as ever. Strangely though, Chifuyu Orimura, two year Mondo Grosso champion and teacher, was not in the classroom today. Maybe she was on a business trip or something. Cecilia simply continued to tap her nail on the desk as Orimura's assistant, Maya Yamada, continued teaching the class about the purpose of the Infinite Stratos, a mech suit that, for some reason, only women could pilot.

" The Infinite Stratos, or IS for short, was originally intended for space exploration, but the idea was quickly rejected. Today, they are solely used for championships among pilots. Use by military is strictly against the law, as well as civilian possession. Only government sponsored pilots are allowed to have a personal IS today, as well as representative candidates." Miss Yamada continued on, Cecilia continuing to become more and more bored.

Suddenly, Orimura appeared in the doorway. Miss Yamada turned to look and surprise was evident on her face. Her expression went to a puzzled one as she spoke.

" Miss Orimura? I thought you were on a business trip." Orimura simply shook her head and replied.

" No, I was sorting out things with a new student that will be joining you today." Everybody simply groaned, and a few even complained.

"_Another_ one?"

"Aren't there enough students in this class?"

"This is getting ridiculous."

Orimura just chuckled and continued to speak.

" Calm down girls, I'm pretty sure that you won't expect _this_ one." Cecilia stood up and, with an arrogant and regal voice, responded with a question.

" What girl in this world is _lucky_ enough to be in the same class as I, Cecilia Alcott?" Everybody around her then proceeded to giggle. It got very loud, but the entire class fell silent instantly as a deep, masculine voice answered her question.

" I wouldn't call that lucky. Simply, out of chance do all of your fellow classmates end up in the same class as you. Besides, you should keep in mind that I am not a girl." Orimura stepped aside as a tall boy with white shining hair and red, lustrous eyes walked into the classroom. As he stood in front of the classroom, Cecelia sized him up.

He wasn't bad. He stood at 6'3", or 190.5 cm, but he was pretty fit; not too wide, not too skinny. He _was_ pretty pale, but it seemed to compliment the eyes and the hair very well. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with him, except for the fact that he was saying that he was going to be a student at a school for pilots. This wouldn't be a problem if men could pilot IS's, but they can't.

The entire class, including Cecilia, burst into uncontrollable laughter. A few girls fell over in their chairs, laughing way too hard to stay upright. Others had their heads on their desks, pounding their fists on the surface and laughing hysterically. Cecilia not laughing anymore, but still smiling, pointed at the boy.

" Is this a joke, or are you stupid? Even the most daft of fellows know that only women are capable of piloting IS!" After she spoke, she continued to chuckle. The boy simply stood there, unfazed. After a minute or so, the laughing died down. Orimura opened her mouth to speak to the boy, but he simply put up a hand and silenced her.

Sure enough, the boy cleared his throat and spoke in the same, deep, and masculine voice heard before.

" My name is Jaden Snow, and I will be participating in this class as a student. I will assure you that I can, in fact, pilot an IS." The class fell silent once again. Cecilia stood up, annoyed with this boy.

" Well, Mr. Snow, if you really can pilot an IS, then you wouldn't mind a little duel between you and me," she said in a cocky tone. Jaden just looked back at Miss Orimura, who looked at him with a 'you guessed it' look. Miss Orimura then looked at Cecilia and responded.

" In the case that this would happen, arena 3 has been reserved for the occurrence of a duel. The school has just been notified and this battle will be watched by the student body. Both of you, prepare yourselves and your ISs then take places in your hangars. The match will begin in 15 minutes." The entire class just sat there for a few seconds, but then seemed to realize what was going on and ran out of the room as a single tide towards the arena. The only people left in the room were Yamada, Orimura, Cecilia, and Jaden.

Jaden simply turned and walked out of the room, obviously in no hurry. Cecilia quickly followed after so that she wasn't late. The halls were full of noisy girls racing for the good seats in the arena. Cecilia was walking faster than Jaden, so she caught up to him. When she did, she spoke to him in a harsh tone.

" If you can really pilot an IS, which I doubt, you should know that I, Cecilia Alcott, am a representative candidate of England. I am an elite amongst the elite. You don't know what you're up against." Jaden matched her pace and replied in the calmest tone.

" I am well aware that you are a representative candidate, and I understand what I am up against. I can assure you, I will not waste your time." Cecilia was about to say something, but a group of girls from their class interrupted the conversation. The first one to talk was a red-headed american girl.

" Hey Jaden, can you really pilot an IS?" Jaden simply answered "yes" plain as day. As if he'd answer any other way. Before the redhead could say anything else, a strange girl in fox footie pajamas two sizes too big jumped in front and asked a question of her own.

" Cool! Do you have your own personal IS? What is it called?" Unlike the first answer, Jaden just shook his head and replied.

" You will know soon enough. Wait until the fight." She was about to protest when Cecilia spoke up.

" Excuse me, we have to go! You are going to make me, Cecilia Alcott, late to the match!" The girls reluctantly walked away, but as they did, Cecilia heard a few words along the line of "I think they're dating". Cecilia immediately started blushing furiously. She started to think to herself. ' No no no! He's just another incompetent boy that thinks he can pilot an IS. I despise him.' Soon enough, she stopped the blushing. She looked up to Jared to make sure he didn't see her blush, but she couldn't tell; he always had that same stoic and unreadable expression on his face.

Soon enough, they arrived at the arena and split up. Before they did, Jared turned his head.

" Good luck, Cecilia Alcott." Cecilia just replied with a small "hmph!" and continued walking. 'Worry about yourself.'


	3. Whispers From The Enemy

**Chapter 3: Whispers From The Enemy**

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><p><strong>AN: Hey Guys, sorry for the long wait. I have no excuses. In the following months, I will attempt to chip away at this story. Please leave an honest review of what you think about the story and in what direction you think I should take it in. I also have an account of FictionPress, so check that out too. Anyways... on to the heated battle about to happen<strong>

_P.S. Text in this font are thoughts_

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><p>In the changing room near Hangar 3, Cecilia Alcott had just finished changing into the Neurotransmitter Enhancing Suit, or NES for short. The suit looked very much like a school swimsuit with matching stockings. The NES's purpose is to lengthen the nervous system's connection into the suit to allow direct signals from the brain to the suit and vice versa. Cecilia's suit in specific, was a deep blue color with a lighter blue trim on the edges and hugger her body tightly. In her opinion, it looked very refined, or at least as refined as a school swimming suit gets.<p>

After looking in the mirror and making sure the suit was on properly (and admiring her own curvaceous body), Cecilia checked the clock to see that she was well on time and was satisfied to see that she still had 5 minutes before the match begun. Walking toward the door to Hangar 3, her mind lingered over to her opponent and what his fighting style most likely was.

_By the looks of him, he will probably choose an IS with a blade of some sort. He's too stupid to know what he's fighting against. I'll keep my distance and engage him with my drones if he gets too close. _Cecilia nodded to herself in confidence and walked out to the hangar. It was an enormous room with a long continuous tunnel ,too wide to calculate, leading to the arena. A launch pad sat near the door Cecilia just came out of. This pad was meant to launch the user and their IS out onto the battlefield. Cecilia stopped walking and reached up to her earring. It was a blue tear-shaped jewel that hung down just a little bit. She flicked the earring and it began to glow, until the light became quite blinding.

When the light died down, Cecilia was now in control of her devastating personal IS, Blue Tears. The magnificent mech matched Cecilia's NES perfectly. The IS was a deep blue with a few parts colored black. 6 long and slim drones with the same colors as the suit formed up behind the mech suit, taking on the appearance of wings. Mechanical extensions formed around her arms and legs and secured Cecilia tightly in the center of the machinery. After the IS took form around her, Cecilia walked to the launch pad and stood on it. She bent her knees and leaned forward as the pad catapulted her out into the arena.

She flew up a good distance to get a good readout on the battle field. When she looked around, she didn't see any other IS, so her opponent was still preparing himself. Cecilia smirked to herself.

_He's obviously nervous. He's going up against me, why wouldn't he be? _Not a single moment later, Cecilia looked down to the hangar adjacent to hers and saw a figure. When the suits optics enhanced, she nearly blew up the hangar right there and then. Standing there, in a grey long coat, without an IS, was her opponent, Jaden Snow. Cecilia was able to calm herself for a few seconds before the rage bursted out.

"WHAT are you doing! You told me you wouldn't WASTE MY TIME!" At that moment, she launched two rockets out of her IS straight towards Jaden. Those rockets have enough power to completely eradicate a heavily armored tank, and he didn't even move. Suddenly, Cecilia noticed pixels forming into a communicator around Jaden's ear. The rockets were just about there, then she heard him talk in his usual unperturbed voice.

"I won't"

Then the rockets collided with the ground right in front of Jaden, creating a huge smoke cloud where Jaden once stood. Most of the audience gasped, but some screamed. She didn't see any movement aside from the ever-rising smoke. At this point, Cecilia started to worry. _Did I go too far? Why did I shoot at him when he obviously didn't have an IS? What have I done!? _Soon enough, the smoke cleared, but when it did, there wasn't anything there. There was no evidence that Jaden Snow was there when the blast happened. Then she noticed something: not far from the area of effect was something of Jaden's, his grey long coat.

Suddenly, Cecilia heard somebody talking through her communicator in a monotonic voice.

"Target: Cecilia Alcott. IS:Blue Tears, a long range IS focused on firepower and agility. State of mind: compromised." Cecilia turned around to find the source of the voice.

Behind her, about 20 meters away from her, was Jaden Snow. He didn't have a training IS on, he had his own personal IS. It was jet black with a red embellishments all around it and slim thrusters that looked much like Cecilia's drones formed wings on his back. The angles on his IS were sudden, giving it a very sharp appearance. _He has a personal IS!? How come I didn't know about this!? _Cecilia panicked and summoned her rifle, Starlight , aimed it at him, and fired. The shot broke the silence with a loud crack, traveling towards Jaden at stunning speeds, and Jaden simply moved his head to the side as the shot whizzed past his head. The entire arena went silent. Cecilia floated there, stunned at how little effort was used to dodge the round. In response to the shot, Jaden spoke again.

"Target Engaged"

Hearing those words sent shivers down Cecilia's spine as an enormous metal sword summoned itself in Jaden's right hand. The blade itself was the length of his entire IS, and it had a faint, red glow to it. The sun reflected off of it in such a way that gave a demonic feeling to it. This made Cecilia squeal, and she soared away to a comfortable distance and aimed down her rifle. Strangely, he hadn't moved a single inch. _What is he planning? What do I do? _She shook her head and tightened her grip on the rifle, resolving her delay, screaming to herself in her head. _SHOOT! SHOOT! _Several shots flew through the air directly towards Jaden's weak spots. When they reached him, he flew down under the shots. Every single shot missed him.

He still didn't move any closer. _What is he planning!? He completely dodged all of my shots, but he isn't taking the chance to get closer! _Cecilia deployed four of her drones and focused on attacking him from multiple angles. _He'll definitely have a harder time evading my drones._ As the drones got closer, Jaden's sword seemed to glow brighter. Without warning, Jaden dashed forward towards the closest drone and sliced the extremely slim drone in half. The next two were immediately sushi-chopped and destroyed. The last drone headed straight for Jaden, playing chicken with him. Jaden leaned forward and charged straight towards the lone drone, pulling his sword in front of him and driving it right through the unfortunate piece of equipment.

Jaden stood there without a scratch on him as scrap pieces of blue and black metal fell to the ground far below. Jaden had gotten a little closer, but he still hasn't charged towards Cecilia, who was frozen in shock. _How is that even possible!? Those drones were designed to be impossible to even touch! _Cecilia pulled up her rifle and fired a shot heading for the spot between Jaden's eyes, but he simply pulled up his sword and placed it at a slanted angle. When the round hit the sword, it ricochet right off. When the round was out of sight, Jaden just stayed there. Cecilia couldn't pull the trigger because she knew that it was hopeless. It was then that Jaden spoke, flawlessly without any sign of exhaustion or loss of breath.

"Evaluation Complete"

Cecilia literally wanted to scream her lungs out at that point. _The entire match was JUST AN EVALUATION!? WAS HE EVEN TRYING!? _It was then that Jaden charged her, and when he did, he meant it. Cecilia's eyes widened and she flew off, engaging her suit's hyper-sensor package and taking to the skies. At this point, she was flying at over 500 kilometers an hour. She was sure that she lost him, but when she looked back down, he was right behind her. Cecilia screamed in anger and launched two heat seeking missiles right at Jaden. When they were just about to hit him, he dodged to the side and slashed at the missiles as they passed. The sword came into contact with the missiles, causing an explosion and creating a giant shockwave that blasted Cecilia into an uncontrollable spin.

When she stopped spinning, she looked down at the giant smoke cloud beneath her. She couldn't see a thing, so she enhanced the image and changed it into an infrared reading. Cecilia could feel her lungs up in her throat. _WHERE IS HE!? WHERE'D HE GO!?_ When she turned off her infrared, she spotted a moving shadow on the cloud beneath her, and she could tell it wasn't hers because she wasn't moving. She felt like her lungs were going to pop out of her chest when she looked up.

Coming down on her at 1,000 kilometers an hour with a huge sword was Jaden. She didn't even attempt to move. She didn't even have time to think about it. Jaden swung the sword, slamming it directly on her head, sending her as a meteorite towards the arena ground. If it weren't for the energy shields and the absolute defense, she would be falling to the ground thousands of meters below in two halves. When she collided with the ground, she made a crater several meters wide, but no one could see it because of the huge dust cloud the impact had created.

Cecilia was in a daze and she felt like she had just been hit by a semi truck at bone-crushing speeds. When she fully regained her senses, the dust cloud had been blown away. Standing above her, in his dark and mysterious IS, was the red-eyed boy she had thought to be incompetent and incapable, Jaden Snow. When Cecilia looked at her energy levels, she nearly choked on her own stupefaction. From that one attack, he had wasted her shields to the point where only a single energy point remained. Jaden simply tapped her IS with his sword and Cecilia's IS, Blue Tears, erupted into glowing pixels, returning to her ear and shifting to standby mode.

Jaden returned his own IS to the bracer on his right arm and walked over to Cecilia, who was still lying in the crater, stunned. When he stood right next to Cecilia, she prepared herself for the humiliation that she would have to endure from her crushing defeat. But when he walked over to her, she didn't expect him to pick her up bridal style and carry her towards the arena exit. Then he spoke in a lively tone.

"Cecilia Alcott, your performance was rather impressive. Although decisions weren't extremely efficient in their situations, your show of control and expertise with your IS exceeded my expectations. Your marksmanship with the Starlight was incredibly accurate, your draw was very quick, and you showed that your skills do not suffer from loss of composition in live matches." Cecilia was stunned, but she was smart enough to turn her head away from Jaden to hide the blush growing on her face. _Even though I acted cold to him, he complements me on our match!? I didn't even land a single hit on him! _The crowd burst with excitement and surprise. Before her and Jaden exited the arena, Cecilia looked back to the arena to see the result board.

WINNER: JADEN SNOW

ENERGY REMAINING: 598

RUNNER-UP: CECILIA ALCOTT

ENERGY REMAINING: 0


	4. A Conflicted Heart

**Hey guys, Fear's Blade here. Sorry for the long wait. On the holidays, I become quite busy. Anyways, today I have another chapter for you. Leave a review and tell me what you think. I am open for suggestions and criticism. Don't worry, I don't care about flaming. If it helps, then I'll accept it.**

_P.S. 'Text in this format is thought'_

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><p>The infirmary was quiet today. Perhaps it was because only one person lay on a bed there. That person was Cecilia Alcott. The battle she had just fought, well it was more like a useless struggle for her, kept haunting her. It only happened a few hours ago, but she had a feeling the memory will never leave her mind. She will never forget the unforgivable image of the scoreboard in her head:<p>

_WINNER: JADEN SNOW_

_ENERGY REMAINING: 598_

_RUNNER-UP: CECILIA ALCOTT_

_ENERGY REMAINING: 0_

_'How had he only used up two energy points in that entire thing? I know I didn't hit him a single time, but even the rockets barely did anything!' _Cecilia sighed and closed her eyes. _'Who is he? Jaden Snow, the boy of white and red, who is he? Will those red eyes of his reveal anything? Who is he? More importantly, WHAT is he?' _The door of the infirmary opened and closed, followed by the sound of a single pair of footsteps. The steps were rhythmic and composed, those of somebody with a purpose. Cecilia opened the eyes to see who the nurse was, but there was no nurse. Standing there instead was the impossible boy that crowded her thoughts and invaded her mind. Jaden Snow.

"How are you? Are you doing okay, Miss Alcott?" Jaden snow stood there in the grey long coat he had on before the first shots were fired in the battle. He stood there without a single scratch on him, looking more like a divine being than a student. His white hair covered his right eye, although the intensity of his left eye was enough to bring armies to their knees if he had decided to command them. Cecilia stared in awe, unaware that she had started to drool. Before it got too bad, she caught herself and turned away from him.

"I-I-I'm fine..." Cecilia spoke with a tone she thought she'd never use before: vulnerable. Cecilia shook her head and brought her hand up to slap some sense into herself. She swung her hand to her cheek, just to find it stop only a few millimeters from her cheek. She looked at that hand of hers to find another hand lightly grasping it. Cecilia held her breath. _'__Jaden had anticipated that I was going to slap myself and stopped it? Just what it he?' _Jaden cleared his throat and looked a Cecilia in the eye.

"Cecilia, are you okay?" This time, Jaden spoke the question more like a command for Cecilia to tell him if she really was okay. Her heart felt like it had just gone flat in her chest which felt like it had been compressed too far. Cecilia wanted to say that she was fine, but she couldn't bring herself to it. For some reason, she felt that she literally had no ability to lie. This man was more influential than Orimura sensei. Cecilia finally found her voice, although in a whisper, and spoke.

"I... I... I..." What does she tell him? That he causes her to lose sanity?

"I... I'm not, but you don't have to worry about it. It's an emotional thing." At the mention of emotions, Jaden's expression seemed to alter in some way, but Cecilia couldn't put her finger on it. Jaden gently released Cecilia's hand and stood up. He straightened his jacket and talked in his same calm and composed tone.

"I am sorry. I cannot help you then. If there's anything else you need though, feel free to ask me." Cecilia couldn't stop blushing after he said that, so she turned away from him and replied.

"Actually, I wanted to ask you some things regarding our duel." Jaden sat down in a chair next to the bed and listened. Cecilia still felt the blush, so she asked him while still facing away.

"Was that your personal IS? I didn't know you had one." Jaden took a moment to collect his thoughts, then spoke to Cecilia.

"Yes, that is my personal IS. It is the Krimunzonshado, or in English, the Crimson Shadow. I had received it when I found the ability to pilot an IS. I have had it for quite some time now. It is a close range IS, equipped with Ketsueki bureido, a 12 foot longsword." Cecilia waited for him to say more, but he has seemed to finish his thoughts.

"That's it? It is only equipped with a sword? Nothing else?" Jaden nodded his head.

"Correct. It leaves room for maneuverability and speed." Cecilia connected the realization in her head. _'So because he only has a sword, his IS becomes a more agile machine. That must be how he was able to evade so easily, but it still requires the pilot's reaction speed if there isn't a mental enhancer slot package. Since he only uses a sword he can't have any other IS compensation packages. Is he THAT good?' _Jaden spoke to Cecilia while she was still thinking.

"I have learned to work with only a sword. True I don't have any mental enhancers, but I'd rather prefer being able to move around freely. It also limits the energy use so that I can conserve the shield energy" Cecilia froze. _'What the hell!? Can he read minds or something!?' _Jaden chuckled and looked to Cecilia, who was still facing away.

"Any other questions?" Cecilia finally decided to turn towards Jaden. She was conflicting in her head if she should swallow her pride and ask him to train her, or if she shouldn't.

Jaden stood up, preparing to leave the room. Before he left, he looked at Cecilia in the eyes and said one last thing before he left the infirmary.

"If you'd like, I could offer you sessions after school to help you improve your piloting skills. I'll give you time to think about it." Cecilia sat there in bed, with wide eyes and a chest that felt like it was going to burst. Jaden turned back around after walking through the doorway and waved to Cecilia.

"It was great to meet you, Miss Cecilia Alcott. I hope you and I can be great friends." And with that fresh in Cecilia's mind, the door closed. Cecilia curled into an upright ball, pondering on the things Jaden told her. Her face was still quite red and her chest still felt too tight for comfort. Her mind was in turmoil, and she didn't know what to do.

_'It was great to meet you, Miss Cecilia Alcott. I hope you and I can be great friends.' _Cecilia held her hand to her heart.

"Who are you, Jaden Snow?"


	5. Sleeping Arrangements

**Hey guys, I'm back with another chapter of The Man of No Tears. Sorry for the wait, new semester is hitting me hard. Anyways, keep up with the reviews. The only reason I do this is because of you guys. The ones who read my stories and tell me what I should fix and what I should keep are the ones that keep me doing this. Tell me what you think and where to go with the story next.**

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><p>After the battle between Cecilia Alcott and Jaden Snow, classes were dismissed for the rest of the day. Students were free to roam the island or just chill in the dorms. Houki Shinonono, instead of checking out the island or studying, decided to go to her kendo activities, then shower in her room. For some reason, she didn't have a roommate even though she was so far in the year, so she lived in room 1025 by herself..<p>

It was 7:45 in the evening, and Houki had just finished showering after her club activities. As she dried herself off, she looked back on the battle between her classmates. She had seen Cecilia pilot her IS with precise maneuvers, but seeing her out there was like seeing a complete novice in her place. The new transfer student simply swept her aside like she was nothing.

She walked out of the shower room, pondering on the abilities of the new student when she hear a knock at the door. Nobody ever comes to her room, so she was clueless as to who it could be. Curious, she walked to the door and turned the knob. When the door opened, the last person she expected to be standing there was the new transfer student, Jaden Snow. He held a bag in his right hand, and was dressed in the school uniform, wearing a grey long coat over it. Houki was shocked to say the least, although Jaden simply looked down and then back up, and sighed.

"I will wait until you are clothed." Houki was confused for a second, until she looked down and realized she had nothing but a towel on. Blushing profusely, Houki slammed the door shut and walked over to her closet. She didn't have much; her closet consisted of her school uniform, her kendo outfit, a casual dress, a pair of jeans, and a few shirts and tank tops. Still blushing, she picked out her school uniform and dressed quickly. While she did, she pondered on why the boy that just transferred in several hours ago was waiting outside of her room.

'Why is he here to talk to me? I know I'm in his class, but he didn't even glance in my direction when he was in the classroom. Does he want to get to know his classmates? Probably not. There are way too many students in that class for him to take time out every day to get to know them, with homework and all.' Houki was stumped as to why Jaden would want to talk to her. After she put on her uniform and tied her hair with a green ribbon, she walked back to the door and opened it again to find Jaden leaning on the adjacent wall with his arms folded, waiting patiently. Houki sighed and looked at Jaden.

"Did you need something?" Jaden pushed himself off of the wall and stood up straight. Pulling a neatly folded piece of paper out of an inside pocket on his coat, Jaden unfolded the paper. He handed the slip to Houki and pointed towards the bottom of the it.. The piece of paper was a student information slip, and Jaden was pointing towards the student dorm number. He sighed, then spoke.

"Room 1025. I was hoping that they would put me in a room by myself, but they didn't. This kind of surprised me. After all, putting two adolescent people of opposite genders in the same bedroom isn't the best of ideas." Houki blushed at the thought and walked back in to the room, not bothering to look at Jaden. The room was a very comfortable size, consisting of two single sized beds, a large desk, and a kitchen. The far wall was actually a glass door that went out onto a little balcony overlooking the island. Houki motioned for Jaden to enter.

"Fine, but if you are going to be staying in the same room as me, then we need to set some ground rules." Jaden picked up his bag, stepped into the room and closed the door. Houki was about to continue on, but she realized the situation. She was in a closed room, with a boy who could do something no one else could and defeated a representative contender with absolutely no effort. Her eyes widened and her body went into panic mode. She started to freak out and flipped around to face Jaden. When she turned to face him, he had barely moved from the door. He was still standing by it patiently, listening and paying attention to Houki with his bag at his feet.

Houki was very frightened and confused. He didn't have any emotion on his face, so she couldn't tell if he was intrigued, confused, scared, happy, disgusted, or anything. He gave away absolutely nothing. This only made Houki even more frantic. She was as distraught as a wounded animal. Houki took a step back, trying to find her kendo bag which had her bokken sticking out. _If I can get to my bokken, then I can defend myself. _Jaden leaned on the wall.

"Ground rules won't be necessary. I won't be in this room often." Houki froze. Jaden sighed.

"You need to calm down, Miss Shinonono. Your pulse is far above its comfortable rate." Houki snapped. She grabbed the handle of her bokken that was sticking out of her bag and rushed towards Jaden. As she swung the wooden sword down towards Jaden, she moved all of her weight into the swing. Jaden sidestepped the attack as the bokken slammed into the ground. He set his foot down on the blade of the bokken. The wooden sword fell out of Houki's hands and slammed flat onto the floor. Jaden lunged towards Houki's backside and looped his right arm under Houki's right arm. He brought his left hand around the left side of Houki's head and linked both of his hands together, putting Houki in a headlock.

Houki's breathing ceased. She didn't know what to do. For a few seconds, she just stood there in a head lock. It wasn't a tight head lock, just tight enough to get a message across. Jaden let go of her and stepped back.

"Your attack was quick and precise, but be careful not to put all of your weight into a swing that isn't a sure fire hit." Houki stood there, confused as ever. She was still scared, but not nearly as much as before. Jaden walked to the bed farthest from the balcony and sat down.

"I know that you practice kendo. It's obvious looking at your technique and form. Even though you do, I don't recommend trying to hit your new roommate using it. You obviously meant harm, and that kind of strike would have most likely lead to a severe concussion." Houki looked down in shame, pondering on her choices to freak out for no reason. Jaden chuckled.

"Don't worry about it. Just remember that I'm not a threat to you." Houki picked up the bokken and placed it back in her kendo bag.

"Anyways, we _do_ need ground rules. You have to agree to that." Jaden simply nodded his head. No complaint, no problem.

"Fair enough. What did you have in mind?" Houki paused for a second, slightly caught off guard by his lack of stubbornness. After that second, she continued talking.

"I use the shower from 7 to 8 pm. You can shower from 8 to 9 pm. Clean up any mess you make and keep things clean. I don't want to live in a pig sty." After she said this, Jaden chuckled. Houki looked at him, seemingly offended.

"I'm kind of disappointed that you felt the need to mention that. I won't make any kind of mess, I can promise you that." Houki huffed out of frustration and walked to her bed. She was worn out from today, and would very much enjoy a good night's sleep. She pulled down the covers and started to crawl in, then looked down at what she was wearing. It was then that she realized that she was still in her school uniform. Houki sighed and turned to Jaden, who had grabbed his bag and set it by his bed.

"Hey, look away. I need to get dressed." Jaden laid down on the bed, facing away from Houki. She frowned.

"Don't peek." Still looking away, Jaden replied back.

"I'm not a perverted imbecile. Don't treat me as one." Houki huffed and quickly got dressed. She felt very uncomfortable undressing when there was a guy right there. She slipped off the school uniform and put on her kendo uniform. Strangely, she slept in her kendo dress, but she didn't care. It was comfortable. After putting on her uniform, she faced Jaden, who was still facing away from her. Houki frowned.

"You didn't peek, did you?" Still facing away, Jaden spoke.

"No. I didn't." Houki slipped into the covers of her comfortable bed.

"I'm done now." She looked over at Jaden to find him sitting up on his bed. Houki looked at him, quite confused. Then she realized that he was writing in a notebook in his lap. She walked over to him to see what he was writing, but before she could, Jaden had flipped the page and started writing on it. He seemed to be writing down a daily schedule, so Houki ignored it and crawled back into her bed. She wanted to sleep, but the light and the scribbling of Jaden's pencil was keeping her awake. She turned in her bed to face Jaden.

"Hey Jaden, can you finish that tomorrow? It's hard to fall asleep while the light is still on." Jaden stopped writing and looked at Houki. After a second, Jaden closed the notebook and reached for his bag.

"Of course. I think it'd be best if I went to sleep as well." Jaden put away his notebook and his pencil. Afterwards, he took off his long coat and hung it on a hook by the door. He turned off the lights and crawled into his bed. Houki studied her new roommate.

Looking back on what happened in the last few instances, Jaden was a new person all together. He was unlike anybody she had ever seen. He seemed so composed and decided, unlike anybody else she knew. He completely hid his emotions and his body language. Jaden turned to face Houki, that's when Houki saw it. For some reason, she had never noticed his eyes. But now, she payed full attention to them. Red. That was one thing, but she also notice something else that was completely inhuman. His eyes were slitted, like a cat's. Houki held her breath. Jaden spoke low and quiet.

"Sleep well, Miss Shinonono." Houki turned away, contemplating on what she saw.

The slitted eyes of a dangerous entity.


End file.
